TranzAlpine

Previous services

From late 1982 until 1983, 12 second class NZR 56-foot carriages, three with luggage compartments at one end, were refurbished with new "Supervent" windows, fluorescent strip lights, wall-to-wall carpet, and later still, new seats designed by Addington Workshops were introduced to replace the former articulated diesel-hauled Grass Grub carriages. A matching 56 foot van and six 50 foot wooden bogie box wagons for parcels completed the consist. Some of these wagons had served in the same capacity and in the green colour scheme with the Grass Grubs on the Picton and Greymouth routes and one wagon had served the old yellow Northerner as a parcels van, prior to the introduction of the twelve 56' cars. These cars and wagons, like their Grass Grub predecessors, worked the Picton Express (out and back) and Greymouth or West Coast Expresses (one each way simultaneously). All were painted in a bright red colour scheme.

1987 - 2012

The TranzAlpine, hauled by DC 4513 and DCP 4628, skirting the Waimakariri River.

With the deterioration of the yellow Northerner stock, cars to replace these had to be found by sourcing from the rest of the NZR 56-foot carriage fleet. The change in service was marked, with a refurbished modular Mitsubishi FM van turned power-luggage van with handbrake end-mounted 11 kW petrol generator, and three carriages, one from the Endeavour Express and later Southerner Express converted into a servery car seating 31 in reupholstered Addington Workshops-produced seats, in bays of four with two pairs of seats each facing into a table, arranged alcove-style, with windows over double the size of the old ones, enabling better views of the alpine scenery, reupholstered seats and carpet, and a buffet counter service, to replace refreshment stops at railway station cafeterias at Springfield and Otira. The original intention had been to replace each pair of windows with one larger window, but the final solution was to cut out the side of the cars and to insert a steel ladder frame to which sheets of strengthened glass were glued. The effect, of a continuous sheet of glass the length of the carriage, was spectacular and undoubtedly was a major factor in the success of the new service. The other two cars were red Picton - Greymouth cars that were refitted and repainted to the same standard but retained their smaller windows and seated 50, same seating arrangement and type as the servery car.

Reducing the service to an "out and back" format as opposed to "one each way" freed up carriages for other services, and by refurbishing existing stock it was hoped that the move would draw people to the previously poorly-performing Greymouth passenger trains.

Soon, two more Picton - Greymouth cars were refitted similar to the servery and observation car, so the two small-window cars could be slotted into the Southerner consists. These new "big window" cars each sat 51, same seating arrangement and type as the servery car. In the early 1990s, the first generation TranzAlpine panorama cars had a new pressure ventilation system installed, similar to the Bay Express and the rear view/observation car introduced to this train in 1991. In 1988, the train won a Tourism New Zealand Award and was voted as one of the top 10 "short" train journeys in the world. This was the result of the work of a freelance consulting designer and writer Paul Teague, who also worked at the Christchurch Press. His consulting was initiated by John Bennett, Canterbury and Westland Branch manager at the time. John Bennett was soon after promoted to Intercity National Manager, perhaps as a result of the work.^[3]

The locos on that were used on the service were either up to two or three DC class locomotives, two DF class locomotives, two DX class locomotives or a mixture of each.

2012 - present

AK class carriages that are used on the TranzAlpine.

On 26 November 2012, the new AK class carriages that were built at Hillside Workshops, were introduced on the service replacing the "big-window" AO carriages. Since mid-2013, fire-suppressed DXC locomotives have been assigned to the service.

Increasing popularity

The TranzAlpine's popularity increased, and on days the Southerner was not operating it was common to see these cars bolstering the three hard-pressed TranzAlpine cars. In 1991, a Southerner power-luggage van had the end module away from the handbrake end converted into an open viewing area for passengers to enhance the already spectacular scenery on the route. Realising this increased public attention, and with the success of air-conditioned panorama carriage trains on the North Island Main Trunk, between August 1994 and April 1995, eight cars (one a former Southerner then InterCity spare buffet car, one a former Endeavour later Southerner servery car, two from the Northerner, two from the Southerner and two from Auckland suburban services) were extensively overhauled and refitted with panorama windows like the earlier TranzAlpine, TranzCoastal (later Coastal Pacific), pressure-ventilated Bay Express and air conditioned Northerner/Overlander Express trains and seating 50 (day cars) and 26 (servery cars), alcove-style, in new seats like those installed in refitted Wairarapa Connection and North Island Main Trunk carriages. A Mitsubishi built modular van was refitted with a 90kW generator in the central module as opposed to the handbrake end modules on NIMT vans, to facilitate converting one end module into a public open viewing area.

Open viewing platform of TranzAlpine train

In 1995, the viewing van had its second end module converted for public access to match the first end. This was to facilitate its being marshalled into the centre of the new train, which was now re-organised into two four-car trainsets in one, separated by the power/baggage van. To compensate for luggage on the reformed train, the original TranzAlpine van was stripped of its generator and made to carry luggage only.

In 1998, a second van, which was also one of three so fitted as 11 kW power/baggage vans for the original TranzAlpine and Coastal Pacific, was equipped with 90kW generator housed in the central module, for this train.

Interior of a 56-foot carriage

Even after the eight air conditioned cars were introduced in 1994-1995, the train still borrowed panorama cars from the Southerner because of the train's increasing popularity.